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BARCLAYS ATP WORLD TOUR FINALS

November 22, 2010

Mahesh Bhupathi

LONDON, ENGLAND

BHUPATHI-MIRNYI/Kubot-Marach
7-6, 6-4

THE MODERATOR: Questions, please.

Q. Overall how do you think both of you played today?
MAHESH BHUPATHI: We started a bit tentative. I guess it's normal. It's the first match of the Masters. We've been playing well coming up here. Eventually we were able to keep that level up through the match, which kind of helped us get through.

Q. Kubot and Marach, they started offer very well. Was there a change of tactics midway through the first set on your behalf?
MAHESH BHUPATHI: Not really. We've played them I think this is probably the fourth time this year. We had our strategy set. We just kind of had to stick to it and execute more importantly. We didn't execute early, that's why we fell back a break early.

Q. You were in a position when you were two breaks down, deuce on your serve, the deciding point. Was that the turning point as far as the match goes?
MAHESH BHUPATHI: Yeah, I mean, it was a very big point. Going two breaks down, the set is pretty much sealed. We would have had to fight back in the super tiebreaker. Winning that point at deuce was a momentum swing for us possibly because we broke immediately and then we were back in the match.

Q. You did well at the Paris Masters. You didn't have a very good run before that in the season. How much of a factor was that, winning the Paris Masters together?
MAHESH BHUPATHI: It was a very big confidence booster for us. I wouldn't say we had a tough season, coming to the Masters seeded 3. It was frustrating we couldn't win a title in our last four finals. Winning that was obviously a big step for us, especially a Masters as big as Paris.

Q. Can you talk about the importance of getting that first match under your belt and the confidence that it does bring as you look ahead to the next two round-robin matches.
MAHESH BHUPATHI: It puts us in an important position in our group. That's the bottom line. Everybody here is going to be an extremely tough match to win. Just having that first win, I know last year we had a case where three teams won two matches and one had to be eliminated.
We're here to hopefully try to win every match. Getting the first one under the belt is a bit of a breather.

Q. Coming back with Leander Paes, what prompted you to meet him and decide to play with him at the Australian Open?
MAHESH BHUPATHI: I think the Australian Open is the only slam that neither of us have won. We both reached the finals together and individually. You know, we figured maybe we'll give it a shot.

Q. What does it mean to you and to the doubles guys to be able to play in front of 15,000, 17,000 people at the O2?
MAHESH BHUPATHI: This is the most exciting tournament of the year for us. There's no two ways about it. We're the show before the singles. It's amazing that the crowd comes and supports the doubles as well before the singles matches.
Two weeks ago when we were 9 in the race, we were very disappointed. We really wanted to fight hard to make it here because it's a special event.

Q. What are the plans for the rest of the year? Who have you lined up as partners?
MAHESH BHUPATHI: I haven't lined up anybody.

Q. Mahesh, is it difficult to keep jumping and changing partners through the year?
MAHESH BHUPATHI: I don't know. I've been fortunate enough to win with a lot of partners. You know, for me at this stage of my career, it's important to give myself a shot to win the big ones. Like I said, the Australian Open is the one I haven't won.
Leander and me obviously have a lot of history, a lot of titles under our belt. We're going to be seeded very high. We're both 5 and 6 in the world. We'll give it a shot. We may or may not win, but we'll see what happens.

Q. On the issue of the Australian Open, let's say everything falls into place and you do go ahead and win it. Will that get things ticking over in your mind on how much longer you want to play? That's the last one that you need to capture.
MAHESH BHUPATHI: No. You might see us here in London then because we haven't won that either (laughter).

End of FastScripts

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